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Re: Best Raven's Skill Player to Ever Suit Up

Originally Posted by usmccharles

Like I said above, I don't see the point in mentioning a player as a great for the Ravens when the stats they put up while playing for us where mediocre. Obviously Sharpe is a all time great, but he did nothing spectacular stat wise here.

I'd argue that he won us a Festivus Maximus (his coined phrase) Super bowl, and we wouldn't have done it without him

He got the ball from Jamal after he bobbled it against Denver and ran it back for a TD, he caught a huge pass that set the Ravens up for a TD against Tennessee
Double teamed in the SB he caused Stokley to get open ...

Re: Best Raven's Skill Player to Ever Suit Up

Originally Posted by Rxdoxx

I'd argue that he won us a Festivus Maximus (his coined phrase) Super bowl, and we wouldn't have done it without him

He got the ball from Jamal after he bobbled it against Denver and ran it back for a TD, he caught a huge pass that set the Ravens up for a TD against Tennessee
Double teamed in the SB he caused Stokley to get open ...

Re: Best Raven's Skill Player to Ever Suit Up

Good call, but I couldn't put him ahead of Smith Sr, Sharpe or Boldin.

The real question in my mind is, would the HOF committee vote Hester to Canton? No one is in there who was almost a strict returner. Guys like Gale Sayers and Floyd Little had significant yards from scrimmage.

Regarding Derrick Mason, yes he did have a heckova career, but it falls short of Smith/Bolden who are both likely HOFers some day (aka not first ballot).

The RBs (Lewis, Rice, Holmes) all had historic seasons, but none of them had the longevity to measure up to the top three. Of the RBs I'd pick Jamal with the #1 career.

Re: Best Raven's Skill Player to Ever Suit Up

I believe Steve Smith Sr. is going to be a first ballot HoF'er. Derrick Mason was a VERY solid player and the 2nd best WR to suit up in a Ravens uni for sure. Ray Rice and Jamal are hard to ignore, and then you have the Heap, Dallas Clark level guys. I would also throw Willis McGahee and Lorenzo Neal in there. Lorenzo in his prime...man I loved watching that dude. Sam Gash was fun too.

Re: Best Raven's Skill Player to Ever Suit Up

Originally Posted by DarthSizzle55

I think Heap may have been HOF if he had decent QB play and not Boller. He always made shit throws that got him killed and took years off his career because of that.

Maybe. It's been really hard to get to the HOF as a TE in the past, but now we're headed into the golden age of TE play. Tight End has benefited even more than WR in today's pass-happy NFL. Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten are locks - and Antonio Gates and Rob Gronkowski have probably punched their tickets. Then you've got Greg Olsen, Heath Miller, Jeremy Shockey, and Dallas Clark all with 500 career catches. Todd Heap is tied at 499 with Ben Coates and Jimmy Graham.

To put this in perspective, here is the list of HOF TEs in the modern era:

That's it. Eight. And we may double that total by a decade from now, depending on who retires when.

Ben Coates when he retired had a Raven's super bowl ring and was 4th all time leading pass catching TE in NFL history behind Ozzie, Shannon, KellenHow many of us remember that Shannon Sharpe and Ben Coates were both on that SB Ravens team?
Heap tied Coates with 499, was a great number when Coates retired but no more with Gonzales, Whitten, Gates, Olsen, and the following ...

Gronkowski while having name recognition only has 405 catches so hasn't punched his ticket yet, still needs several more high productive years .. just seems like he has done more with all the publicity the media darling cheatriots get. Olsen has 622 catches for comparison 217 more, Heath Miller has 592, Shockey 547, Clark 505 (100 more catches)